Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

With more and more teachers and students from the strife-torn Kashmir valley entering competitions in academic excellence, science, technology, and civil services, as many as 11 professors of the University of Kashmir figure in this year’s list of the top global scientists published by Elsevier on behalf of the prestigious Stanford University of the United States of America.

Stanford University’s Scientist ranking for 2023, a comprehensive database curated by John Ioannidis of the University of Stanford, California, USA, was published on October 04, 2023, by Elsevier. The ranking evaluates the global impact of top scientists’ work worldwide based on a composite C-Score.

As a global leader in information and analytics, Elsevier’s researchers and healthcare professionals advance science and improve health outcomes for the benefit of society. As the world’s leading scientific publisher, Elsevier boasts high-quality and trusted journals publishing around 600k articles per annum which account for 18% of global articles, and 28% of global citations, reflecting the quality of its work.

“Building on 140 years of collaboration with the research community we help ensure that quality research can be accessed, trusted, shared, and built upon to accelerate progress in society. We work to ensure information is validated and discoverable so that your work can make a difference, and we create tools and platforms to help you showcase your impact”, says Elsevier on its website.

Those honoured from the University of Kashmir this year include Professor Shakeel Ahmad Romshoo, who served in the University of Kashmir roles as Professor of the Department of Earth Sciences and Head Geo-informatics with specialization in Hydrology, Glaciology, and Climate Change, before he was appointed the Vice Chancellor of the Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), Kashmir.

Prof Farooq Masoodi of the Department of Food Science and Technology, Professor Ghulam Jeelani of the Department of Earth Sciences, and Professor Manzoor Ahmad Shah of the Department of Botany have also received the distinction of being nominated among the world’s top two percent scientists. 

Others from the Kashmir academia, who have achieved the same distinction this year, include seven Assistant Professors of the University of Kashmir, namely Dr Adil Gani and Dr Idrees Wani of the Department of Food Science and Technology, Dr Imtiyaz Khan of the Department of Zoology, Dr Faheem Arjimand of the Department of Nanotechnology, Dr Manzoor Ahmad Mir of the Department of Biosciences, Dr Shabir Ahmad Parah of the Department of Electronics and Dr Firdaus Ahmad Shah.

“Previously one or two of our professors used to get this honour almost every year. This is for the first time that 11 of us have figured in this hall of fame”, Prof. Manzoor Ahmad Shah, currently Director of Internal Quality Assurance at the University of Kashmir told Awaz-The Voice.

The list of achievers includes academics and researchers like Dr Shabir Ahmad Parah who come from an average rural background and are the first generation literates in their families. Dr Parah’s father is a farmer at Zazna village of Ganderbal district. His one brother is a veterinarian and another has joined a job after completing an MBA at the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences and Technology, Kashmir.

“My entire academic pursuit has remained confined to the valley. I got my education from Government Middle School Botwena, Government Higher Secondary School Sumbal, Government Degree College Bemina and finally my PG and Ph.D. from the University of Kashmir '', Dr Parah of the Department of Electronics and Instrumentation Technology said.

Dr Parah has been recognized in the Field of Networking and Telecommunications, particularly in the sub-field of Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing, Information and Communication Technologies. This acknowledgment highlights his outstanding research contributions in Multimedia Security and Biomedical Image Processing. “This remarkable journey of global recognition began in 2020 when I was the sole representative from Kashmir University. I am happy that this time around, 11 of us are there”, he added.

With a portfolio of over 185 research papers published in internationally reputed journals and conferences, Dr Parah’s work has significantly influenced the field. He has contributed to high-impact journals such as IEEE Transactions, IEEE journals, and publications from esteemed publishers like Elsevier, Springer, and Wiley.

Dr Parah has also edited three books on Multimedia Security (Springer-Nature), Artificial Intelligence for Innovative Healthcare Informatics (Springer-Nature), and Intelligent Multimedia Signal Processing for Smart Ecosystems (Springer). He has also authored over 30 book chapters in various books published by renowned publishers, including Elsevier and Springer.

Dr Parah has supervised 10 Ph.D.s and 30 M Phil and M Tech dissertations. He has established strong research collaborations with esteemed institutions globally, including Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), South Korea, Sejong University, South Korea, University of Bradford, UK, University of Technology Sydney, Australia, Coventry University, UK, Institute of Tele-informatics Engineering Federal Fortaleza, Brazil, Universitat Politécnica de Valencia, Valencia, Spain, University of New South Wales, Australia, and American University Dubai.

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Parallel to his research achievements, Dr Parah has been honoured with six IEEE conference awards, including three Best Technical Paper Awards: one at ICAECC-Bangalore (2014), two at INDICON-New Delhi (2015), Best Algorithmica Award at ICIIP-Shimla (2017), Best Paper Award in the track of Image Security at IEEE-IBSSC-Mumbai (2022), and Conference Researcher Award at IETE-ICECMA-2022.